Gov't allocates additional $150 million for chik-V response

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is reporting that the government has allocated an additional $150 million to fund Jamaica's response to the Chikungunya virus.

The response includes a "massive" clean-up campaign aimed at destroying and removing mosquito breeding sites.

Following a ministerial meeting on Wednesday, the Local Government Minister, Noel Arscott, said $140 million had been set aside for Jamaica's public cleansing agency, the National Solid Waste Management Authority.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller held a technical meeting with some of some of the key Government agencies involved in the ongoing chik-V response.

The OPM said, during the meeting, Simpson Miller mandated those involved to be thorough and consistent in the planning, implementation and public communication of the ongoing national response.

In the meantime, Jamaica’s National Emergency Response Team has been activated to coordinate and support the response to the Chikungunya outbreak.

The National Emergency Response Team, which is headed by Simpson Miller, involves representatives from key ministries, agencies and non-government stakeholders with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management having a lead role in coordination and implementation.

The OPM says the activation of the National Emergency Response Team will also provide a robust, thorough, intensive and extensive management framework for Jamaica’s planning for prevention, mitigation and response action in respect of other communicable diseases including Ebola.

"This planning and preparation has already stated with focused attention being paid to Jamaica’s various ports of entry and sensitisation and response training of key first responders including health workers being undertaken by the Ministry of Health," said a Government spokesperson in an OPM release.

The Government says the training of other stakeholders, including Immigration Officers, Customs Officers and other air and seaport workers will be intensified.